


Shot for Shot

by ohmytheon



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Truth or Dare, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-11
Updated: 2014-06-11
Packaged: 2018-02-04 05:17:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1766893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmytheon/pseuds/ohmytheon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where's the harm in playing a little truth or dare while drinking whisky with his best friend, Arya Stark? Wherever it is, Gendry is about to find out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shot for Shot

It had started out simple enough: Arya had had a bad day at uni, as Fridays usually were since they were her worst day, and called Gendry up the moment she got out of her last class.

 _“I’m going to be at your place in fifteen minutes so you better be there,”_ she’d practically threatened on the phone, _“and make sure you’ve got a bottle of Jack stocked up.”_

The moment he’d hung up, Gendry had slipped into his shoes and jacket and left his apartment, walking down the stairs and to the [store](http://ohmytheon.tumblr.com/post/77218323183/shot-for-shot-arya-x-gendry-modern-au#) next door to buy a bottle of Jack Daniels. He only ever bought alcohol when the occasion called for it and never once stocked up [on alcohol](http://ohmytheon.tumblr.com/post/77218323183/shot-for-shot-arya-x-gendry-modern-au#). He just bought it as his need or desire for it came. Alcohol had always made him a little leery. He’d seen the way people behaved on it, mostly men acting like drunken assholes and women crying because of said assholes. Plus, the only thing he knew about his father was that the man had liked to drink; and that was enough to turn Gendry away from the idea altogether.

But he did drink every now and then, always in moderation. He’d only been drunk a handful a times. Anguy would goad him into drinking a little too much or he’d get prideful and want to beat Hot Pie in a drinking [contest](http://ohmytheon.tumblr.com/post/77218323183/shot-for-shot-arya-x-gendry-modern-au#). (Now that boy had no liquor tolerance whatsoever.) And he liked drinking with Arya. She wasn’t quite yet old enough to [buy](http://ohmytheon.tumblr.com/post/77218323183/shot-for-shot-arya-x-gendry-modern-au#) liquor, so the only time she ever drank was when someone else bought it for her. The first time they’d gotten drunk together, it had been over beer and she’d confessed that she’d only tried it a few times when her brother Jon let her try some of his when they went out to eat, though the first time she’d been drunk had been thanks to her brother Robb’s best friend Theon Greyjoy. He’d let her have a whole bottle of wine before she’d gotten sick.

Gendry was a little more careful. He knew that Arya was stubborn – knew that she’d want to match him drink for drink, shot for shot, sip for sip, despite the fact that she was nearly half his weight and almost foot shorter – so he’d learned how to moderate her without her knowing it. If she knew that he was watching what she drank or moderated his own drinking so she did, she would’ve been pissed. But what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her, as far as he was concerned when it came to potential [alcohol poisoning](http://ohmytheon.tumblr.com/post/77218323183/shot-for-shot-arya-x-gendry-modern-au#) and throwing up and having to hold her hair as she threw up in the morning.

Except tonight was a different. Tonight, Arya was in the mood to [play](http://ohmytheon.tumblr.com/post/77218323183/shot-for-shot-arya-x-gendry-modern-au#) with those rules and then toss them out the window completely.

She had showed up at his door, having somehow snuck into the building without having to be buzzed in (like usual), and he had been able to tell that she was in a different mood. Her hair was practically on its end, like a cat’s fur when they were angry, and there was a storm going on in her grey eyes. He’d taken a step aside and she’d swept right on it. She took the bottle, poured two shots, and took one immediately. All of this had happened in a matter of minutes without either of them saying a word.

That had been three shots ago.

“Stupid Professor Baelish,” Arya grumbled, collapsing onto his couch that was patched up with duct tape. “Sansa is his little teacher’s pet and he just treats me like I’m stupid.”

Some people might’ve said something, maybe told her that she wasn’t stupid, agreed with her on the stupidity of her economics professor, or tried to console her in some way. Gendry knew better than that – had always known better. He kept his mouth shut until she looked at him with wide eyes, which let him know that she was ready for him to speak and change the subject.

“I worked just as hard as she did on our term paper, but he said that my paper lacked… _finesse_.” She practically spat out the word, as if it was the dirtiest thing in the world. Gendry himself knew next to nothing about finesse. He’d never been to university; and if he didn’t come home covered in grease and sweat, he probably hadn’t done his job properly. “Whatever. Screw him. I don’t care. I always get A’s on the tests.” For however gritty she could be at times, for however rough around the edges she was (especially compared to her older sister Sansa), Arya was smart and clever. She just didn’t have the mind for economics like Sansa did. She thought about the world differently. Finally, she raised her eyes up to Gendry’s and pat the seat on the couch next to her. “Another shot?”

Gendry rubbed the back of his head as he sat down. “I’m not so sure…”

Arya reached over and grabbed the bottle off the table, her thin body brushing against his leg as she did so. “Pish posh. You don’t have work until five tomorrow. You’ll be fine.”

“And what about you?” Gendry countered. “Surely your parents will wonder where you’ve disappeared off to after class. You certainly didn’t ride here with Sansa.”

“You’re right,” Arya replied as she poured two more shots. “I took the bus.”

Gendry did his best not to roll his eyes. Bus travel was fine by him – had been for many years, seeing as how he’d just been able to afford his own piece of junk car – but Sansa would’ve had a conniption if she’d known that Arya had traveled anywhere by bus. Arya was a Starks and Starks did _not_ travel anywhere by bus. She could’ve easily gotten a cab or even their family’s driver, Poole, to come pick her up, but she was always so stubborn. She liked to do things the “rough way,” so to speak.

“Well, you’re not taking the bus back,” Gendry told her. She opened her mouth to protest (he could already hear her saying that she could take care of herself just fine), but he cut her off, “And if we keep drinking, at this rate, I’m not going to be able to drive you back either.”

For a moment, Arya didn’t say anything – she just looked at him – and then she shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll just stay here then and tell my parents’ that I’m staying at a friend’s. It won’t be a lie.”

Gendry tried not to choke on his breath, tried to keep calm, so he nodded his head very stiffly. His bed was just big enough for him and– Well, it wasn’t like they’d be sharing the bed anyways. Obviously he was going to take the couch tonight and give Arya the bed. If she protested any, he’d just wait until she fell asleep and then carry her to the bed. Even soaking wet, she was easy as hell to pick up. Soaking wet. Maybe she’d want take a shower. It was big enough for two people–

_Seven hells, Waters, what are you thinking?_

Shaking his head, not thinking about how foolish that might look after nodding his head moments ago, Gendry took the second shot that Arya had poured. He was going to need it.

“I know!” Arya sat up excitedly on the couch, crossing her legs and looking at him intently. “Truth or dare?”

Gendry groaned. “Oh, c’mon, Arya, we’re not in middle school anymore.”

“I never got to play the game in school,” Arya simply told him, which of course – of course – she would say. She always knew exactly what to say to him whenever she wanted to goad him into doing something. The boys would have to poke and prod for a while, damn near plead sometimes, but Arya would just tilt her head, give him a look, and say one sentence and he was sold. She was so persuasive, he always insisted.

Sighing in defeat, Gendry waved his hand in the air. “Truth.”

“Pansy.” Arya stuck her tongue out at him. “What did you want to be when you grew up?”

Gendry tried not to grimace. “A knight.”

“You do realize that those don’t exactly exist anymore, right?” she teased.

“Well, I wanted to go fight dragons and save princesses, so I don’t think I was really in the mindset for reality anyways,” Gendry said. All those times he’d run around the orphanage, playing pretend with the other kids. He was always a prince or a knight of some kind while a few of the other boys would play goblins or trolls or dragons that he had to fight on his way to save one of the girls in the attic playing the princess. “I bet you always played the knight whenever you played pretend.”

Arya smiled. “Of course – and Sansa was the princess.”

“Alright, truth or dare?”

Gendry felt a mean streak flash through him and grinned. “I dare you to call up Edric and tell him that you have a crush on him.”

“That’s revolting!” Arya glowered at him. “And not true at all.”

“Oh, come on, you’ll have to fess up at some point.” Gendry meant to tease her and still wore the grin on his face, but his stomach strangely twisted in his gut. He was almost certain that Arya did have a crush on Edric or at least bore some more-than-friendly feelings towards the boy. Whenever they all went out, the two of them would get locked into conversations for so long. They came from the same world, a world that Gendry found very foreign.

“I’m not doing that,” Arya said flatly.

“Drink up then, Stark.”

Arya shot him one more glare and then downed her shot almost defiantly. “Truth or dare.”

“Truth.”

“Who do _you_ have a crush on?” she demanded. “I’m betting it’s Bela.”

This time, Gendry choked and grabbed his Coke to sip on. “I don’t…”

“ _Come on_ ,” Arya said, clearly mocking him, “you’ll have to fess up at some point.”

Gendry looked her in the eyes as he picked up his shot and tossed it back.

Arya smiled. “See, it is Bela.” There was something strange in her voice too. It didn’t sound defeated like his voice had sounded earlier in his mind. It just sounded…off. He couldn’t imagine why. It wasn’t like she didn’t get along with Bela. The two very rarely spoke to one another. Arya was more apt to talk and hang out with the boys than the other girls in the group, with the exception of Gendry’s older sister Mya.

“It’s not Bela,” Gendry muttered, snatching the bottle from her and taking a swig from it.

Laughing lightly, Arya took it back from him and matched him for the swig. “Then who is it?”

“It’s no one,” Gendry said, trying to take the bottle again. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes bright. She clearly did not need anything more to drink, but he most certainly did. She pulled the bottle away from him, holding it behind her. “Arya!”

“Gendry, just tell me. I’m your best friend. You can tell me. I won’t laugh.”

Sitting up on the couch, Gendry reached further, pressing his hand on the couch near her knee and leaning over her to grab the bottle. He had a longer reach than she did, being so much taller, but she struggled as much as she could, practically laying back on the couch to keep the alcohol from him. “Arya, give me the bottle, please.”

“Not until you tell me!” she told him, a laugh still in her voice.

“I took the drink so I wouldn’t have to answer,” Gendry replied.

“Not gonna cut it, mister.”

“That’s cheating.”

“So what?”

“ _Arya_.”

“ _Gendry._ ”

And then Gendry made one last attempt, throwing his arm out to grab the bottle, but instead his hand on the couch slipped and he fell forward, landing on top of Arya. She made a little oof! sound, but he caught himself awkwardly with his elbow on the couch and forearm on the arm of the couch. That still didn’t keep him from being pressed up against his best friend. He was completely covering her on the couch. When he looked down to apologize, he saw that their faces were only a few inches away. Her eyes were still bright, her lips wet from the alcohol, her cheeks redder than before but maybe not from the alcohol.

“I dare you to kiss me,” Arya whispered.

“S’not your turn,” Gendry replied, just as quietly, his entire body aching to do it. Her brown hair was framing her face, looking like it’d be so soft to run his fingers through. “I dare you to kiss me.”

Arya dropped the bottle of the floor, the sound of it thudding on the ground ringing in the back of his mind, and then placed her hands on his face, pulling him down to kiss him. She tasted like whisky and coke. He moved so that he wasn’t lying so awkwardly, but he was still on top of her, his knees on either side of her hips, and he pushed his fingers into her hair, which was just as soft as he’d imagined. She kissed him with great need, like she’d been waiting so long for this. He couldn’t even begin to think about what was going on.

He deepened the kiss, his tongue entering her mouth, and she made a move like it had startled her. For a brief moment, he nearly hesitated, wondering just how far she’d been with a boy (he knew that she hadn’t dated much, if only because of her extreme independence), but then she gently bit his lip, bringing him back to focus. He moved from her lips to her neck and couldn’t help but smile at the way her breathing seemed so haggard. When he kissed her on the lips again, he pressed his hips into hers and she gasped loudly.

Kissing her lightly, Gendry pulled back. “I think I took that last shot for nothing.”

Arya smacked him on the arm. “Oh, shut up and kiss me already.”

Okay, so maybe alcohol was good for something.


End file.
